Shining a bright light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls. Also providing advice for writers, industry news, and commentary. Writer Beware® is sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.

Unhappy Client Suing B.K. Nelson Inc. Literary Agency

A retired lawyer claims he wrote a book investigating the death of Princess Diana, and his agent extorted thousands of dollars from him to market the book. Paul Anthony Spletzer...sued BK Nelson and her eponymous firm, whom he says he hired to represent him for 20 percent commission.

"In negotiating her fee, defendant Nelson, when questioned by Spletzer as to why she charged 20 percent commission, which is believed to be twice as much as other agencies, replied that she, she personally, was worth it," the complaint states.
Spletzer says Nelson told him that he "would receive not less than $250,000 and probably $450,000 plus royalties for the rights" to his book by selling it as a film.

He claims she asked him to pay $4,000 so she could create a DVD trailer of "Her Necessary Death" and market the book to the entertainment industry in New York and Hollywood.

"Defendants stated that this trailer would be similar to the trailers seen on HBO or Showtime or those presented as coming attractions in movie houses ... that there would be actors presenting the theme of the work entitled 'Her Necessary Death,'" according to the complaint.

Spletzer says he received the trailer in May, but that it "is worthless."

The full complaint, which demands millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages, can be seen here.

Also noted in the article: B.K. Nelson Inc. is one of nineteen literary agencies on Writer Beware's Thumbs Down Agency List. We've been receiving complaints and advisories about the agency since 1999, including:

- A 20% commission (a handful of reputable agents do charge 20%, but the prevailing standard is 15%).

- An evaluation fee of $350, plus an additional fee of between $3.00 and $5.00 per page if the manuscript isn't finished.

- A fee of $250-400 to represent subsidiary rights at various book fairs.

- A fee of $450 to be included in a Speakers' Directory.

- A fee of $2,000 to feature an author and manuscript at BEA.

- Editing fees of as much as $4,500.

- Thousands of dollars charged to a client to produce a "professional trailer" to present to the entertainment industry. This client isn't Mr. Spletzer (I'm withholding the exact amount paid to protect the client's identity), but had a similar opinion of the trailer, describing it as something that "could have been done by a high school student."

And that's just the documented complaints.

According to the agency's website, B.K. Nelson has "a long career of helping aspiring writers achieve greatness." However, the agency's roster of "highly acclaimed clients", as well as its list of published books (whose impressive-seeming length owes much of its size to the fact that many titles are included more than once) reveals little evidence of recent sales. On websearches of names and titles, several don't turn up anywhere but Nelson's website. For others, the referenced titles are incorrect, or don't seem to exist at all under the author's name. Several clients have books with publishers no competent agent would approach, such as Eloquent Books and the now-defunct Dailey Swan. For the authors and titles that do check out, a fair number are with reputable publishers--mostly due to multiple titles by single authors--but most of the publication dates reach far back into the previous century).

EDITED 6/13/12 TO ADD: Mr. Spletzer's complaint (linked in above) bears a file stamp from the Westchester County Clerk dated September 10, 2010. However, a search of Westchester County court records shows no sign that Mr. Spletzer's complaint was ever filed with the court, and there's no record of any case in Westchester County, NY where Paul Anthony Spletzer, B.K. Nelson, or B.K. Nelson Inc. are parties.

19 comments
:

They should have known better than to take on a lawyer as a client :-) But it also shows that even professional lawyers can be quite badly informed about fraudulent practices in vanity publishing. He should have visited your site first.

This sounds like a frivolous lawsuit. Who would expect a professional hollywood trailer for only 4 grand? I have no sympathy whatsoever for this jerk. If he was any good, the book would have sold anyway, even with a bad trailer. A good trailer with real equity actors in it would cost about 45 or 50 grand minimun for production on location.

Anonymous, you may know something about Hollywood, but you clearly know absolutely nothing about publishing. This isn't a frivolous lawsuit, it's fraud. *Real* literary agents don't make "trailers," no matter how much they cost.

I hear from clients and agents at several, reputable agencies that they have been charging fees for trailers, writing and management. So how come this book hasn't sold? Give it to one of them like William Morris or ICM. See if they can sell it. Otherwise, I think it's just another shakedown in a slow economy for lawyers. Maybe nobody else wanted him.

I'm embarrassed to admit that back in the mid-90's I actually was a client of BK Nelson for about a minute. She still has me listed on her site for speakers, despite numerous requests to delete my name. She never asked for money, but she did talk me into going to BEA to work at her table there. She had rented a hotel suite that I was supposed to share. When I arrived, I discovered that what I was actually expected to share was a fold-out couch with one of her clients, a 6'4 transsexual. I booked a room at another hotel.

I'd be very interested in the outcome of this case. I have an idea for a movie about a bogus agent who extorts money from desperate wanna be authors and self publishing "writers". The agent eventually takes on a serial killer as a client... I guess you know the rest!Anyone know what happened?

She is a mess...I was also a client of hers...and ran to the hills ASAP. She refused to pay (or took months and months after receiving checks)..I finally had to go to the publisher directly and she was cut out of the money chain. I even had a lawyer of another client contact me once trying to find her. I sadly am still on her website...cannot get it taken down/removed. I have a MUCH better agent (although no agent would be better than her).

Anonymous said...Total ripoff artist. Said she liked my novel but never sent an agent commission agreement in writing. Charged $224 "to read and evaluate the book" but never sent any analysis and charged the same for a completed movie script and did nothing. When I would speak with her on the telephone she kept saying I have interested parties which was not true. She never called me, I always had to call her. Total waste of time and money. She does not any credibility and certainly is not a legitimate literary agent.

I had business dealings with Nelson and she still owes me money. She claims to have been a Ms. Pennsylvania, Ms. ??? and a Ms.??? REALLY! I checked, nothing... Here is her new website. http://nelsonbookmovielecture.com/ still a bunch of rubbish.

I'm so glad sites like this exist. I was recently contacted by three different agents/agencies/publishers and all three seem to be bogus. I hate that there is so much fraud in this world right now. Thanks for all of your warnings!!!

It sounds like there are many, many legitimate business-related reasons to disparage BK Nelson, so I'm very disappointed that some posters here sank to the level of attacking her apparent trans* status. Even more distressing is that these comments were approved by the moderator(s) – what a sad and ugly reflection on Writer Beware, which I had, prior to reading this comment thread, believed was above moral reproach.